Listening to radio and television broadcasts, whether they are music, news, or discussion-based programming, consumes a large amount of time of the average individual. As people's lives become busier, there is more of a tendency for multi-tasking. It is quite common for an individual to perform one or more tasks while watching television or listening to the radio. These tasks may involve the individual moving from one location to another (e.g., from the living room to the kitchen). As a result, the individual may be forced to constantly adjust the audio level of the radio or television in order to maintain a comfortable listening level.
For example, suppose that a person is listening to a radio or stereo that is playing from a fixed location, such as the living room. As the listener moves throughout the house, the perceived volume at the listener's location does not remain constant but varies based on the listener's distance from the audio source. It would be impractical to constantly go back to the radio or stereo system to manually adjust the volume to retain a relatively constant volume as perceived by the listener as he or she moves throughout the house.
As another example, suppose that an automobile driver is listening to the car radio while driving. The noise level inside the car is constantly changing. For example, most drivers find that they have to adjust the volume of the radio to different levels as the car changes from highway to city driving speeds. As a result, the automobile radio listener is repeatedly required to manually adjust the volume of the radio to keep it at a perceived constant volume.
Suppose, as a further example, that a telephone with hands-free speaker operation is being used by a consumer in the kitchen of a house. As the consumer moves away from the telephone and moves about the kitchen, it may become difficult to hear the caller out of the telephone's speaker due to either the distance from the telephone or the noise in the kitchen, or both.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method that will allow the perceived volume of an audio source to remain at a constant level irrespective of a listener's location.